


Four Ways

by sugarby



Category: Code Geass
Genre: Drabbles, M/M, Multiple Universes, Shorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 13:37:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11579145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarby/pseuds/sugarby
Summary: A connection between two individuals runs deep enough to transcend across four, unrelated timelines.





	Four Ways

**Author's Note:**

> *If I find a song that suits this, I'll change the title.
> 
> *I've kept these four stories as notes and felt like releasing them while I'm trying to get out of the weird mood that's affecting my ability to write decently. Everything coming out right now is just _mehh_.

_**|| o n e ||** _

After they've fulfilled their deed to the very bitter end, when everything treasured with his best friend is lost in his disappearance, Suzaku is  _heartbroken_.

"C.C., when does it stop hurting?"

"Who ever said it's supposed to?" The immortal witch now accompanies said heartbroken man as her part of the deed made by them; by two, deeply-rooted people for the sake of a better world they've always envisioned for practically a lifetime. She stays on the floor rather than behaving unlike herself to give Suzaku, hunched in a chair with his head facing downward. "When we lose something valuable, we're struck with immeasurable, infinite pain that only becomes numbing as time goes on. It never truly goes away so you must learn to live with after a while."  _'_

 _Because I have'_ , she thinks, constantly reminded of her lengthy existence and how many people she's met and influenced, how many she's left or have left her.

"Trust me, Suzaku."

Suzaku chuckles dryly, "You? The woman who's lived probably just as long as the earth's been alive?"

"I'm not  _that_  old."

"You just don't look like it."

"Don't be a pain, Suzaku Kururugi.

"When I lost...when I  _thought_  I lost him years ago, back when we were kids, it didn't hurt as much as it does now. But why? What's different?"

"You tell me."

"It's just...he's just..." Searching for the right word to describe one individual known by many under multiple guises and failing, Suzaku imagines his best friend rising from his grave, crawling at the dirt, mining his way up and out of his coffin just to educate him, just  _to be right_. That's the kind of person Lelouch could be; he always took the chance to teach someone a thing or two with superior knowledge—especially if he excelled in that area—and then he marveled in their surprise. Suzaku laughs even though it hurts to think about him this way, "He's one of a kind, I have to say. And just...whenever I thought I was better at understanding him—without a manual—he'd surprise me in ways I didn't expect."

"Yes, Lelouch liked to keep a lot of tricks up his sleeve."

"And truths. Especially on how something made him feel." Suzaku could always tell with Lelouch that something was being kept hidden away, locked under several keys. It was his vulnerable sides, his emotions...the most personal parts that made him up which, if used against him, could break him piece by piece."

In contrast, C.C. says, "All Lelouch really ever said about you was that you're hard-headed, stubborn and ignorant, but also kind and strong."

Suzaku chuckles again, "Of course he did."

"And I always thought it was kind of him to say. Considering." Considering it was  _Lelouch_  saying these things and he was always blunt, merciless; never one to sugar-coat an opinion even on a close friend. He valued honesty highly over plenty, yet ironically saved his own skin countless times through being dishonest. He was a truth and a false in any situation: a tall, Brtiannian paradox.

"There was a time when I wasn't kind. Not to him. I picked fights with him but we were both just kids stuck in a meaningless war. We were both just kids but to me, he was this whole, other world." Of big, fancy words. Of wiser, maturer perspectives on bigger things than what most children aged seven knew or could fully understand. Plus, he was a Prince--not so charming like the ones in fairy-tales at first but plenty proud; he carried a lot of pride on his shoulders and the right to refuse help from anyone.

" _Your_  whole, other world." C.C. emphasizes.

Dread comes rushing back to Suzaku after the fond memories, salt pouring in on fresh, open wounds. "...Yeah." As he returns to keeping his head facing downward, because nothing can possibly look up after all of this, a phone is thrust toward him. He has to pull his head back to avoid sudden collision, and the screen is bright so he has to squint but the screen is still very clear.

C.C., holding out the phone and showing him her single contact named "0", supposes now is the right time to unveil her own trick up her sleeve; another secret kept hidden to be revealed when she believed right to do so, because it means forsaking the Zero Requiem and all they've sought through irreversible sacrifice. "Suzaku, would you like to speak with him?"

Suzaku stares at the screen hard in debate.

C.C. asks, "Do you wish to talk to Lelouch and reconnect with your whole, other world?"

 

**_*      *      *_ **

 

**_|| t w o ||_ **

Suzaku's fingers have to juggle with his cup, the tea he poured nearly spilling over himself and staining the table from the shocking revelation disclosed with him just now. "Wh-What the—seriously?! You're an—"

"I'm aware Earthlings struggle to grasp the concept of life existing outside their planet but I assure you, I am—"

"An alien!" Suzaku gasps, not meaning to cut him off again but unable to help himself. "Literally, like, you come from another planet and have antennas and stuff?!" he rambles so fast, he doesn't properly figure out what he's saying until he's said it. Lelouch gives him an unimpressed look; there are no extended parts of himself protruding from his head whatsoever. Maybe it's racial stereotyping to the people on his planet.

"Like I was saying, you struggle to grasp the idea of other life beyond Earth but yes, I am indeed an  _alien_." Lelouch explains, being the person Suzaku found and rescued from the wreckage of a crashed ship days ago, from a location so off the radar that even the Military can't pin-point it. It makes sense now. "I come from another planet. However..." he slightly tilts his head, "I'm uncertain about what you're referring to as 'and stuff'." Obviously the collection of vocabulary on Earth isn't vast like that on his home planet, which is a point against Earth but in favor of destroying it like he originally came here to do. 

"Well, do you have any powers?"

“The people on my planet don’t believe in... _smudging_? _Contorting_? Hm,  _embellishing_  our natural forms.” Lelouch, easily the most fluent and orally versatile on his planet, can't help the shame he feels from struggling to find the best suitable words for this conversation. On Earth, contorting is reserved for reshaping one's body, usually in a show of uncommon talent.

Suzaku shakes his head and waves his hands. “No, no! Sorry!  _Super_ -powers. Err…” Elaborating between two different languages is one thing, but it's another to have to do it in a third, universal langue neither of them are natives in. “Extraordinary senses. Flying, being speedy, moving things with your mind…”

Lelouch thinks it over a while in his head and then his face seems to register an answer. He points to his eyes, the amethyst hue exclusive to his family, but their large, rounded shape shared throughout on his home-planet. “I can…” He starts but then stops.

“You can...?”

Lelouch stalls, mind doing a quick think through a couple hundred things, scenarios and predictions on how his next moves play out to the end. Large eyes, tongues licking to an unheard language, maybe even antennas in _very rare cases_ , those are common on his planet. Not his ability that only his family possess and that people on his planet have died trying to take for themselves. He moves his finger from his eyes down to his lips. “I’m able to understand and converse in the language of whomever’s lips my own come in contact with.”

“You mean…a k-kiss?”

“On my planet, we also do it to exchange information.”

“C-C-Couldn’t you just say what you know?! Going around kissing people seems a bit _extravagant_ …” He surprises himself, using an adjective he never has before, substituting it for ‘extreme’ just so there’s no misunderstanding between him and the alien visitor. On Lelouch’s planet, ‘extreme’ works the same way as ‘super’ or ‘really’ and not like _‘crazy, insane, ridiculous'_. “So when you kissed me before, after I found you and took you to a hospital, that’s why?!”

“It was _a_ reason but not _the_ reason. What you call kissing is a form of expressing gratitude on this planet. Am I wrong?” 

“N-No…” Suzaku starts blushing. “But on Earth, we kiss the people we like!”

“I’m not  _disgusted_  by you, Suzaku Kururugi.”

Suzaku sighs at the misunderstanding, "Thanks, that's...yeah, that's good to know."

"You sound disappointed. Is there a certain ability you hoped I possessed?"

"Uh, not really? There's this guy in a comic that can control people's minds but that sort of thing is kind of what a villain would do."

"So you don't wish I could make you brave enough to ask my sister if you can court her?" Lelouch asks so casually, remembering the one picture of his family he carried on him slipping and Suzaku becoming flustered at the glimpse of his younger sister, Euphemia.

As expected, bringing her up has Suzaku sputtering about all over the place. "Lelouch! I don't even know her! Plus, giving away your sister so easily?! And isn't it against your planet's law or something for two different races to mix?!"

"Not at all.  _We're_  talking and  _we're_  two different races."

"That's not the point!"

"You earthlings sure are fond of raising your voice-boxes."

Suzaku covers his mouth immediately. "You know what..." He gets up from his chair and starts walking backward. "I-I think I'm maybe...p-probably—"

"Parched?"

"Uh, yeah! So I'll see you in a bit!" Suzaku says and runs off.

Lelouch doesn't say anything about there still being tea in his cup. Oh well, he thinks, quite peacefully, he can take this time to recharge and brush up on knowledge of the human language if he's to stay for a while. "C.C., you're not as inconspicuous as you think you are behind that wall. Come out."

Nothing happens at first, then a woman with long, green hair steps out from the wall of the back building. She's been there the entire time, and he's known it. "It's not good to tell lies to the only acquaintance you have on foreign land."

"It is so long as he doesn't know that I lied."

"He could find out."

"I very much doubt that." Because while Suzaku's appearance leans toward the pleasing side, he isn't the cleverest of minds Lelouch has met. Very far down the line, in fact.

"If you revealed your true ability to control whoever looks in to your eyes, then he'd easily bend to your will and we wouldn't have to be cautious."

"I don't want him to bend to my will, C.C. And besides, my ability only works once on a person, so it's not as if I can perpetuate any fear within him to obey me."

"But he doesn't know it only works the one time. He doesn't know anything at all. Like that you used your ability on him already the second he found you just so you'd have an ally."

"It's a one-time ability well spent."

"From what I've heard Suzaku Kururugi say to you, he doesn't seem like the type to be disloyal. He likely would've accepted you either way, though we can't be certain. And now you've taken a stronger liking to this earthling," Which, for her, will mean dragging him off this planet and back home and it'll be an irritating task.

"The people and things I choose to take an interest in aren't your concern, C.C."

"Alright,  _spoil-sport_."

 

**_*      *      *_ **

 

_**|| three ||** _

Lelouch at ten years old was bored one day, or just bored of all the lackluster clubs he was being forced to pick from to join. None of them interested him, and the ones that did he quickly saw flaws in them and left. And so he marched around the school, his best friend following, until eventually he stopped and declared, "I want to start a club of my own! And so that's what I'll do."

"What'll it be about?"

"Important things." Lelouch had answered, and Suzaku had asked if that meant homework. "More important than homework."

"What's more important than that?!" Suzaku, also ten years old but realistically, unlike his precocious best friend, was amazed and couldn't think of anything more important beyond what their classroom and outside on the playground.

" _Think_ , Suzaku. In the roughly six hours we spend every day in school, we're only being taught the fundamentals of what it means to survive in this world. Don't you want to know how to  _live_? What if they're teaching us the wrong curriculum?" From the passionate sound of things, his club was going to be a hierarchy of topics adults talked about. Suzaku didn't dare say it but he definitely thought it would be a boring club. "Suzaku, don't you care about our future? If we let things be decided for us then we'll be none the wiser! So for an hour after school, four times a week, my club and its members are going to converse about such things; the future and what it means for us now in the present. The world will change and we musn't get left behind. We need to be in control."

"Am I going to be in it?"

"Of course you are but you'll need to pass a test. As the club's president, I can't be biased." More than just a unique extracurricular club, it sounds like Lelouch wants to start a democracy. "It won't be easy. Do you still want to join?"

Suzaku, at seven years old with few alternatives for fun besides recess and even fewer friends—in fact, with Lelouch as his sole companion, he shrugs and says, "I guess."

"Very well. While you're in the club-room and doing club tasks, you must refer to yourself as 'Japanese'."

"But that's…I'm an  _El_ -"

"My club, my rules, Suzaku." Lelouch may sound like his bossy self, but Suzaku knows this is really for his sake, a way for him to accept himself rather than pick at the parts others dislike just to fit in. "In my club, every member has a value that some number won't dampen."

"Fine. I'll do it."

"You need to say it and you pass."

"I'm…" Suzaku gulps. "I'm Japanese."

Lelouch smiles sticks out his hand, "Welcome to the club, Suzaku."

 

 

**_*      *      *_ **

 

**_|| four ||_  
**

If it weren’t for his position as Chief-Editor of Ashford Academy’s neglected newspaper, which no one student ever reads and never touches for appropriate purposes, Lelouch wouldn’t have sat through an entire football match at the top of the bleachers. He looked out of place sitting quietly away from the cheering fans. He wanted it to be over fast but when it was, he and his trusty camera hooked around his neck still had a job to do. Holding it up to show the start of the match, he asks, “Hey, mind if I..?”

"School paper?"

"Yes."

"Sure, go ahead." Since he’s not told to pose or stand in any specific way, Suzaku just stands as natural as he can while being photographed.

"I don't know much about sports but from watching you play alone, I'd say the Japanese have one more thing to be proud of. You seem like a natural."

"Thanks but you mean an Eleven right? Or Honorary Britannian?"

Lelouch pulls his camera away from his eye, pausing on the shot, "I  _know_  what I said." and then he snaps his last picture.

"But—" Suzaku's all of a sudden ambushed with a big hug from a woman with beautifully long, rose-colored hair. She gushes over him, praising his wonderful display of talent, calling the game 'great'. "Oh, Euphy! Thanks! You weren't bored?"

Euphy shakes her head, smiling all around. “Not at all! I understood the rules a lot better this time!"

"That’s truly a feat on your part then.” says Lelouch after passive snort.

"Oh, you, always hard on everyone. It's good to see you, Lelouch. I didn't know Suzaku and you were friends."

"We've just met actually."

Suzaku looks between the pair, bewildered. "You two know each other?" 

Euphemia giggles, "I would like to hope so after living together for several years. I love Lelouch. He acts so mysterious and keeps to himself a lot of the time but in truth, he’s just a little shy.”

"Euphy," Lelouch calls her in a gentle-warning and embarrassed tone, using her nickname Suzaku thought was exclusive to just him. "Don't describe me like that, you'll give people the wrong idea."

"People get the wrong idea about you because _you allow them to_."

" _Euphy_."

"I just wish you'd let them get to know you the way I know you. The full version of the Lelouch that I love with all my heart!"

Suzaku spares no moment to look between them, very confused. "Um, Euphy? Is Lelouch your...I mean, did the two of you have something before?"

"You mean did we hold hands and sneak love letters in each other's lockers and promise to share our pudding cups at lunch?" Lelouch readdress it childishly on purpose, to match the insecure way the question was asked. "Euphemia's a sweet girl and all but she's—."

"I'm not his type." Euphemia cuts, but her disappointed tone makes her current boyfriend look _twice_ at her.

Lelouch's eyes roll, "She's my sister, which she should've told you first. My _absentminded, half-sister_."

"Oops!~" Euphemia says but sounds far from sorry, she sounds entertained like teasing her brother justifies her lack of given context. "I'll make it up to you both with dinner tonight. Lelouch, say you'll join us, please. And Nunnally, of course."

"Her after-school club activities run a little late today but we'll be there as soon as we can, thank you."

"My pleasure! Great, so I'll see you at seven. Suzaku, I'll eat with you in a little bit, I just need to drop some work off with my teacher." She leans in to kiss Suzaku on the cheek and waves them both goodbye, leaving the two men she loves behind with excitement in her steps, her pink hair bouncing beside her.

Suzaku feels awkward enough without asking the brother, "Hey, are you okay with Euphy and me dating? Since she's your sister."

"It's not against the law or breaking any rules, so there's no plausible reason for me to disapprove of it." But Lelouch can always create a plausible reason if he really wants to. "Or did you mean to ask if it bothers me that my full-Britannian sister is dating an Honorary Britannian?"

"An  _Eleven_...?"

Lelouch scoffs in disgust. "Alright, I'll make you a deal, Suzaku. So long as you take care of my sister, I won't have to threaten you." It's unclear whether he's aware he's self-contradicting himself by threatening to threaten.

"Sorry, not scary enough. No offence but guys like you," With no muscle, no strengths outside quick calculation and academic success, "are on the school paper for a reason."

Lelouch smiles, "You're right. A lot of us are physically challenged but we know how to spin lies. We know how to sneak and play dirty, to write about someone in such a way that no one will ever look them in the eye again. We who comfortably control things from behind the scenes know exactly how to ruin a person much worse than they can ever hope to do to us."

“Whoa. Okay,  _that_ ’s scary.”

"I'm glad you understand perfectly. Well, Suzaku, it's been pleasant but I have a story to write on you, don't I? Pictures may say a thousand words but actual words go in to detail. I'll see you at dinner, won't I? So until then."

**Author's Note:**

> . I excluded this at the last minute but in **three** , Lelouch dubs "Ex-Machinas: plausible or false hope?" as the club's first official topic and Suzaku, at such a tender, youthful age, thinks it's like finding a second pudding cup in your lunchbox after thinking you only have one. _Bless._ Ofc, Lelouch tells him there's more at stake than pudding. His beliefs, not mine.


End file.
